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015 829 177 -^ 



^^2d SESSION^^ } SENATE COMMITTEE PRINT. 




INVESTIGATION OF MEXICAN AFFAIRS. 



REPORT OF SENATOR ALBERT B. FiiLL TO THE SUBCOMMITTEE 
OF THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS, EXAMINING 
INTO MEXICAN AFFAIRS. 



Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign lielations. 
PARTIAL AND AD INTERIM REPORT. 

Washington, D. C, Decemher 9, 1919. 

On November 16, 1919, the chairman of your subcommittee pro- 
ceeded to the border for the purpose of transacting official busi- 
ness in connection with your investigation and preparing for hear- 
ings to be held by the subcommittee in the borcler States after De- 
cember 1. 

While en route to Three Rivers, N. Mex., where I stopped one day 
to attend to personal affairs, I received at Chicago, and Kansas City, 
and immediately upon leaving the train at Three Rivers, telegrams 
from other members of the commitee, and at least one other Senator 
insisting that my presence was, or would be, necessary in Washington, 
and urging that I should return to this city as soon after November 
20, as possible. 

I had Capt. Hanson and other investigators arrange to meet me 
at El Paso, Tex., on November 21, that I might, before returning to 
Washington, receive reports from them supplementing other infor- 
mation in the possession of the Department of State, and also in the 
possession of your committee, and bearing directly upon important 
and critical matters concerning your investigation. 

As you are aware, your committee and the Department of State 
have been cooperating"^ in Mexican matters, and particularly in your 
investigation thereof, especially since the date of November 14, 1919. 
Such cooperation has been of the most frank, cordial and pleasant 
nature. Under the direction of the Secretary of State, the United 
States ambassador to Mexico, Mr. Fletcher, and the minister to 
Cuba, Mr. Boaz Long, both of whom have been in this city for some 
time past, have been in almost constant touch with your committee, 
advising and cooperating with us. 

156287—20 



2 INVESTIGATION OF MEXICAN AFFAIRS. 

Before leaving this city on Novembei 16, 1 notified the Department 
of State of my purpose in leaving here, and of my movements gen- 
erally. 

Among the telegrams to which reference has been made, as calling 
me back to Washington, were the uoUowing : 

Washington, D. C, November 20, 1919. 
Hon. Albert B. Fall, 

United States Senator, 

Three Rivers, N. Mex. 
We have conferred with Fletchei'. In view of new developments we agree 
that you should return here as sooi^ as possible after the wedding and not pro- 
ceed with hearing or other committte work at present. Please answer. 

Frank B. Brandegee. 
Charles S. Thomas. 
Marcus A. Smith. 



Washington, D. C, November 24 1919. 
Hon. A. B. Fall, 

United States Senator, 

Paso Del Norte Hotel, El Paso, Tex. 
Have conferred with Fletcher. Absolutely necessary you should be here at 
opening of Congress. Am satisfied nothing can be done until you arrive. 

Frank B. Brandegee. 

Prior to the receipt of the telegram of November 24, I wired my 
secretary, Mr. Safford, to confer directly with Ambassador Fletcher, 
showing him my telegram. In answer, my secretarj^ telegraphed 
me, referring to Mr. Fletcher : 

* * * Believes there will be day or so delay in reaching decision. Deems 
it inadvisable issue statement from El Paso. Believes if given out here much 
more effective and dignified, if not by administration, then by Congress, if 
thought best. Believes you should be here at opening of session. 

Confirming this telegram, my secretary wrote me as follows: 

With regard to your return, he thought you should be here when Con- 
gress convenes. In this connection he referred to the investigations of 
the subcommittee and said that he hardly thought it necessary for them to 
be continued, " as we have sufficient evidence or data on hand." 

I hurriedly closed up matters temporarily with our investigators 
and left El Paso, coming directly to Washington, where I arrived 
at 4.30 in the afternoon of December 1, 1919. I was met at the 
Union Station by a messenger from the Secretary of State and also 
by Mr. Boaz Long, representing the Department of State, and re- 
quested to proceed in Mr. Long's motor to the residence of the Secre- 
tary of State, Mr. Lansing, without delaying either at my office or 

my hotel. . . ^.^ 

I had a very pleasant and interesting consultation with Mr. 
Lansing, discussing the Jenkins case and discussing in detail the 
matters hereinafter set out in the memorandum presented to the 
President of the United States. While no definite, specific conclu- 
sion was reached at this conference as to the details of immediate, 
specific action, the steps thought necessary by both the Secretary and 
myself to be taken concerning the various very important matters 
of dispute with Mexico were very thoroughly discussed and, I am 
happy to say, with no difference of opinion. 

It was understood that possibly one or more resolutions concern- 
ing Mexico might be introduced in the Senate by Senators other 

JUL- ^ 1921 



INVESTIGATION OF MEXICAN AFFAIKS. 5 

shall be limited to the Executive. Of course, he may, and properly, because of 
his extraordinary relation to foreign atfairs, in ordinary cases be the source of 
negotiation. The President's general statement that only one branch of the Con- 
gress, namely, the Senate, has any relation to foreign affairs, and the Senate only 
when its advice is sought by the Executive, is contradicted by a hundred prece- 
dents. Indeed, the precedents have gone so far that in a number of cases the 
advice has been the advice of- negotiation, and even as solemn engagements as 
treaties have been made not only upon the suggestion of the Senate but in the 
exact terms that the Senate has suggested. A discussion by Senator Lodge, pub- 
lished in Scribner's some years ago, and more recently by the late Senator Bacon 
of Georgia, has been supposed generally to have put at rest the question that the 
Senate may only advise when its advice is sought. 

By this resolution the Senate did not attempt to withdraw recognition or 
break olf relations, but the concurrent resolution contained a suggestion or re- 
quest to the President that he do so. Such suggestion is entirely in harmony 
with precedent. 

The President states in the first paragraph of his letter that he shall " ex- 
amine it (my written memorandum furnished him Friday night) with the 
greatest interest and care. What you told me of the investigation on Friday 
last prepares me to find in it matter of the greatest importance." 

It would appear that the President has not as yet examined this written memo- 
randum, and, of course, under the circumstances, I will again request the com- 
mittee to postpone action upon the resolution, or upon any phase of the Mexican 
matter until he has had time to give the subject his consideration. 

The resolution was introduced by myself after consultation with numbers of 
my colleagues and others because of the fact that we considered it of the 
greatest importance that the matter should immediately be presented to the at- 
tention of the President, and because we were reliably informed that the matters 
referred to in the statement made by myself to the President and to some ex- 
tent reincorporated in the written memorandum, had not been called to his 
attention at all, or by any one. 

The memorandum presented to the President on Friday evening 
was as follows: 

MEMORANDUM. 

In pursuing the investigation concerning appeals to the laboring element in 
the United States to prevent intervention in Mexico it became evident that many 
doubtless very sincere persons were entirely ignorant of Mexican matters in 
general, and particularly of the subjects which they were attempting to discuss. 

During such investigation the committee ascertained that the Carranza Gov- 
ernment itself was also conducting propaganda of like character, and in many 
instances the organizations referred to were being used by the Carranza Gov- 
erinnent for such purposes. 

In following up this line the committee at an early date became convinced 
that the Carranza Government, through its consuls general in this country, was 
in more or less close contact with the more extreme radical elements in the 
United States, and was using propaganda with such elements. 

The committee had its attention called to a letter from Consul General R. P. 
de Negri to a member of the Mexican Senate of Mexico City, dated New York, 
October 23, 1919, and published in Spanish in a Mexico City daily paper of 
November 6, 1919, in which the consul general calls attention to the fact that 
he is in touch with radicals and others in the United States favoring the 
nationalization of all property, and congratulates the Mexican Senator upon 
the ground that Mexico had set an example in such nationalization, and that 
he, de Negri, in 1917, had made up his mind to engage in propaganda favor- 
able to us (Mexico) by having our constitution printed in English, etc., etc., etc. 

There was obtained from a Mexican consulate in Texas a pamphlet entitled, 
" The Conspiracy Against Mexico," by one Arthur Thomson. In this pamphlet, 
among other things, comparison is made between the Mexican constitution and 
the Soviet Government in Russia, and the charge is made that the American 
Government has placed every obstacle in the way through protest, etc., of the 
Mexican Carranza Government carrying out the provisions of the Mexican 
Constitution, and nationalizing all forms of property. Strong criticism is 
_ directed at President Wilson for his actions in this regard, and attention is 
called to certain speeches made by the President as being naturally contradic- 
tory in their terms with reference to Mexico, and the general tenor of the 



6 IN^VESTIGATION OF MEXICAN AFFAIRS. 

document is to hold President Wilson responsible for interference with the Oar- 
ranza Government in Mexican affairs. 

Even stronger criticism is directed at Secretary Lane, the charge being that 
he, while a member of the American-Mexican Joint Commission, was attempting 
to browbeat the Mexicans into yielding the guarantees demanded by the Rocke- 
fellers, the Guggenheims, the Dodges, and the Dohenys." By causing a letter 
upon private stationery to be writen to the Mexican Embassy stating that the 
writer understood that this pamphlet was being distributed by the embassy and 
expressing a desire that a copy might be mailed to a private address in the 
city of Washington, an immediate response was had by the receipt in a plain 
envelope of a copy of such document. 

The committee caused a letter to be written to the author of the pamphlet, 
directed from a Southwestern town, in which the writer, under a German name, 
requested copies of the pamphlet and suggested that through certain influences 
which he might wield the Mexican Government might be persuaded to purchase 
and circulate the Thomson pamphlet. An immediate reply was received from 
the author, stating, among other things, that the consul general of Mexico 
at San Francisco had already purchased for distribution 5,000 copies of such 
pamphlet, and that they were being distributed in the United States and other 
countries, and also stating that should the consul general be able to obtain 
from his Government further funds for such purposes, an increased number 
of such pamphlets would be so distributed. 

The committee obtained possession of a copy in Spanish of what Mr. Car- 
ranza calls his " Bluebook," embracing some 400 printed pages, in which at 
various places attention is called to the oppressive policy of the United States 
Government toward Mexico, and stress is laid upon the fact that President 
Carranza has resisted every such encroachment, and in every instance from 
the first proposed Niagara conference down to and including the American 
protests as to nationalization of lands and other properties, that Carranza had 
been successful by refusing absolutely to yield in any respect to the demands of 
this Government. 

Attention of the committee was called to conditions along the border in 
Arizona and in southern Texas, and in the opinion of the committee such 
conditions were rapidly taking on the same character which had been assumed 
in our relations with Mexico prior and subsequent to October, 1915. As will 
be recalled, early in the year of 1915 there was issued at Monterrey, Mexico, 
and a little place known as San Diego, Tex., by certain Mexicans, what was 
known as the " Plan of San Diego." It was declared that on the 20th of 
February, 1915, there should arise a revolution against the Government and 
the country of the United States of North America ; that the independence and 
segregation of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and upper California 
should be proclaimed, as the Republic of Mexico had been robbed of such 
States; it was proclaimed that no prisoners should be held, whether civilians 
or soldiers, and that North Americans over 16 years of age should be put to 
death ; that the Indians of Arizona and other States in the named zone should 
be invited to join and be given guranties that the lands which had been taken 
away from them should be returned, etc. ; that the States above, after being 
declared an independent Republic, should later request annexation to Mexico 
without reference to Avhat form of government the latter country might have 
at the time; that independence should be obtained for the negroes, and that 
they, the negroes, should be aided in obtaining six States of the American 
Union, which States border upon those mentioned as to be annexed to 
Mexico, etc. 

Of course, this plan soon became known to the authorities of Texas, if not 
to the authorities of the United States, and was given more or less publicity. 
It was so fantastic and struck every American as being so childish and 
ridiculous that no one with ordinary intelligence believed at the time that 
any responsible Mexican could be cognizant of it, or at least could propose 
to assist in carrying out the plan. 

From the 20th of February, or shortly thereafter, in the year of 1915, up to 
and following the -recognition of Carranza by this Government as de facto 
president in October, 1915, various attacks were made upon citizens, upon 
railroads and other property, and upon the Regular United States soldiers 
stationed along the border and within the State of Texas. Various conflicts 
occurred, and a large number of Americans were killed, as well as a large 
number of Mexicans from old Mexico. 



IlSrVESTIGATION OF MEXICAN AFFAIRS. . 7 

It was, of course, well known to the authorities that among the Mexicans 
who were killed in these attacks there were both soldiers and officers in the 
Carranza uniform and belonging to the so-called constitutionalist Carranza 
forces ; even yet it was not generally believed that responsible officers in 
Mexico were aiding or abetting any such movement. 

In June, 1916, Secretary of State Lansing, in a message to Mr. Carranza, 
who had been recognized by this Government prior to that time, called atten- 
tion to the fact that Carranza soldiers and officers had been engaged in these 
attacks in Texas, and had even gone to the border upon Carranza trains for 
the purpose of such attack. 

Several indictments were found against various Mexicans in the State and 
even in the Federal courts of Texas for murder, in what is known as the Arce 
case, the defendants being convicted of murder in the first degree, and sen- 
tenced to death. After an appeal to the highest court of criminal jurisdiction, 
i. e., the Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, this case was considered 
and a comparatively recent decision publislied in the 202d S. W. Reporter. 
The court unanimously decided that although the defendant and his com- 
panions had killed Oberlies, a corporal in the United States Regular Army, 
in a night attack upon the soldiers sleeping in their tents at San Ygnacio, 
that they could not be held for murder because under the evidence in the 
case they were soldiers in the Carranza Army acting imder order of their 
superior officers, who were commissioned in the Carranza Army ; that they 
were sent from Monterrey and other places in Mexico to carry on war 
against the United States ; that tlie state of war actually existed ; and 
that these men were doing their duty as soldiers and officers in obeyance 
of orders ; that under such circumstances, the state of war existing between 
Carranza and the United States, these parties, although guilty of killing our 
soldiers at night, could not be held for murder. 

The fact is, as will be shown by evidence in the possession of the committee, 
that later several Mexicans engaged in carrying out this " Plan of San Diego " 
were given high commissions by Mr. Carranza, and some of them created, or 
made, governors of states. Among such men so rewarded were Agustin Garcia, 
Niceforo Zambrano, and Gen. Nafarrate. Gen. Garcia was afterwards made 
Attorney General of the Republic of Mexico under the constitutional Govern- 
ment, and is still a high official of that Government. 

The trial of the Arce case developed many facts heretofore not understood, 
but the decision itself has not been given publicity and being of comparatively 
recent date had not attracted attention which it deserved. Were it not for 
the fact that conditions similar to those existing in 1915 appeared to be 
gathering along the border, the committee although after hearing additional 
evidence, and reading and considering the opinion of the court referred to, 
were convinced that Carranza had actually carried on a war against the United 
States while his representatives were seeking recognition at the hands of Presi- 
dent Wilson, would have passed the matter by as not bearing directly upon the 
situation at this crisis. However, at the very moment of closing this investiga- 
tion of the acts of Carranza in favoring and attempting to carry out the " Plan 
of San Diego," evidence was brought to the committee not only of the propa- 
ganda efforts of the Carranza Government referred to, and of the agitation 
being carried on by the Carranza consuls and diplomatic agents in this country 
with the radical revolutionary element in the United States, but further 
evidence was presented showing that Carranza himself directly was now 
engaged in assisting in the formulation, or at least with knowledge that plans 
were being formed similar to those in the " Plan of San Diego " in some re- 
spects, and that he was lending Government assistance to the carrying out of 
such plans, which were again directed to revolutionary effort in the United 
States, formerly named in the " Plan of San Diego." 

The committee has in its possession photostatic copies of two letters sent 
by V. Carranza, and directed to Aguirre Berlanga, Minister of Gobernacion of 
Mexico, in one of which lie directed pecuniary assistance, etc., to be rendered 
to two men coming from Texas, who are in Mexico with one Mr. Juan M. 
Garcia, and in the other letter dated June 14, 1919, Mr. Carranza st;i)tes to 
Mr. Berlanga that thei-e are three men — two from Texas. This lettei- reads as 
follows : 



8 INVESTIGATION OF MEXICAN AFFAIRS. 

" V. C," Mexico, June 14, 1919. 

" Senor Lie. Manuel Aguieee Berlanga, 

" Esteemed Feiend : Senor Lino Caballo, bearer of this letter, is tlie person 
who, in company with two friends, will bring to you the manifestos and the 
plan which they desire to put into practice in the State of Texas. 

" This plan being very favorable for Mexico, please aid them in every way 
and give the necessary instructions in the frontier States. 
" I remain your affectionate friend, 

"V. Cakeanza." 

Of course this letter of itself is evidence that Mr. Carranza is ordering the 
frontier States of Mexico to be prepared to take some action concerning some 
plan to be carried out in the State of Texas, which plan will be explained and 
is to be explained by the men introduced by Mr. Carranza to Mr. Berlanga. 

Following this or contemporaneous with the receipt by the committee of this 
photostatic copy, the committee came into possession of the notes of the pro- 
ceedings of the secret meeting of Lodge 23, an organization of extreme agitators 
and I. W. W. members in the City of Mexico, held on October 15, 1919. 

The notes referred to state that at this meeting on October 15 of Lodge 23 
there appeared three delegates, two Americans and one Mexican, who had 
arrived from the United States, and who claimed that "the society" would be 
able at the beginning of next November (that is the month of November, 1919 
just passed) to call a general strike of all minei's and metal workers in the 
United States ; that they have 3,000,000 adherents in that country where they 
will be able to seize one western and two Atlantic ports; that a large number 
of American soldiers were preparing to take sides with them, and that they pro- 
posed to establish a capital of a reformed Government of the United States in 
the State of Colorado ; that when such revolution was successful, the Mexicans 
rendering their assistance, the border States which were acquired by the United 
States under the Treaty of 1848 would be returned to Mexico. 

From evidence in its possession the committee is prepared to say that the 
three men referred to in the minutes of this meeting are the same three men, 
or at least that the two Texans or Americans were two of the same men refer- 
red to by Carranza in his letter of instructions to Berlanga, which is quoted 
above. 

Again this matter would seem preposterous, ridiculous, and so fantastic as of 
itself to deserve little attention were it not first, for the fact, that it is similar in 
all essentials to the " Plan of San Diego," which the only judicial tribunal pass- 
ing upon the question was declared to have been backed or supported by armed 
forces through a state of war by V. Carranza in 1915 ; and second, were it not 
for the fact that the " Plan of San Diego " itself antedating, and this present plan 
following, were and are in exact line with the note of June 19, 1917, from Zim- 
merman to Von Eckhart, then ambassador of Germany to Mexico, which among 
other things, proposed that 

"We (Germany) shall give general financial support (to Mexico) and it is 
understood that Mexico is to reconquer the lost territory in New Mexico, Texas, 
and Arizona," and in which Von Eckhart was further instructed to suggest to 
Mexico that its president, that is V. Carranza, on his own initiative "should 
communicate with Japan suggesting adherence conditions to this plan and at 
the same time offer to mediate between Germany and Japan." 

In pursuing its line of investigation there came into the hands of the com- 
mittee a paper which the committee is precluded for very grave reasons from 
quoting in full, but for the authenticity of which the committee vouches, in 
which it is stated that a high official of Mexico would communicate to another 
high official that the "treaty with Japan is coming along," and that the writer 
is convinced of the great advantage which it would bring Mexico for its 
national integrity. The committee is also in possession of certain official state- 
ments to the effect that great commercial activity might be started in Mexico by 
reason of the initiative of wealthy Germans, to whom the Mexican Government 
has the intention of lending its decided support. 

The committee may say that these last two matters referred to occurred, or 
the statements were made as referred to, within the past six months ; that they 
were subsequent to Carranza's introduction of the three men to Berlanga and 
prior to the meeting of Lodge 23 in Mexico City on October 15, 

In its investigation as throwing light upon the attitude and frame of mind 
of V. Carranza toward the United States and its President, the committee was 



4 IlSrVESTIGATION OF MEXICAN AFFAIRS. 

matters, and of certain disputes between this country and Mexico 
relating thereto. 

The President requested Senator Fall, if possible, to prepare for 
him at once, a written statement or memorandum, covering the mat- 
ters reported upon verbally by Senator Fall to him. 

Returning to my office I immediately dictated such statement and 
sent it by special messenger to the White House. This was upon 
the afternoon of Friday, December 5, 1919. On the following morn- 
ing Mr. Tumulty, Secretary to the President, over the telephone 
notified me that he had delivered the memorandum to the President 
the night before, that is to say, Friday, the 5th. 

Shortly after noon on Monday, the 8th of December, I received 
from the President a communication, which is as follows : 
The White House, 

Washington. 8 December, 1919. 

My Dear Sir : Thank you very much for your kind promptness in complying 
with my request that you send me a copy of the memorandum report of the 
subcommittee on Mexican affairs of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. I 
shall examine it with the greatest interest and care. What you told me 
of the investigation, on Friday last, prepares me to find in it matter of the 
greatest importance. 

You ask an indication of my desire with regard to the pending resolution 
to which you and Senator Hitchcock called my attention on Fridav, and I am 
glad to reply with the utmost frankness that I should be gravely concerned 
to see any such resolution pass the Congress. It would constitute a reversal 
of our constitutional practice which might lead to very grave confusion in 
regard to the guidance of our foreign affairs. I am confident that I am 
supported by every competent constitutional authority in the statement that 
the initiative in directing the relations of our Government with foreign 
governments is assigned by the Constitution to the Executive, and to the 
Executive, only. Only one of the two Houses of Congress is associated with 
the President by the Constitution in an advisory capacity, and the advice 
of the Senate is provided for only when sought by the Executive in regard to 
explicit agreements with foreign governments and the appointment of the 
diplomatic representatives who are to speak for this Government at foreign 
capitals. The only safe course, I am confident, is to adhere to the prescribed 
method of the Constitution. We might go very far afield if we departed 
from it. 

I am very much obliged to you for having given me this opportunity to 
express this opinion. 

Very truly yours, 

WooDBOw Wilson. 
Hon. Albert B. Fall, 

United States Senate. 

Shortly thereafter I gave publicity to a statement concerning this 
matter, in which statement was included a verbatim copy of the 
memorandum sent to the President, and to which his foregoing letter 
refers. 

The statement and the memorandum are as follows : 

statement. 

The President's letter deals exclusively with the propriety of passing the reso- 
lution recommending the withdrawal of the recognition of the Carranza Gov- 
ernment, and his comments relate directly and only to that proposition. It is 
surprising that at this time it should be stated that the suggestion of the Senate 
that such recognition should be withdrawn should constitute a reversal of our 
constitutional practice. From the beginning of the Government the Senate has 
felt free and has exercised its privilege over and over again to make any sug- 
gestions in respect to all phases of foreign relations. There is nothing in tlie 
Constitution that requires that the initiative with respect to foreign relations 



^ INVESTIGATIOlSr OF MEXICAN AFFAIKS. 3 

than members of your subcommittee, unless the committee itself, or 
some member oi the Committee on Foreign Relations, introduced 
some resolution with reference to Mexico. 

It was decided that the Secretary of State should name a repre- 
sentative from his department to represent him in close and con- 
tinuous contact with myself, as representing the Senate, through 
the chairmanship of the Subcommittee of the Committee on For- 
eign Relations dealing with Mexican affairs. 

On the next morning a message by telephone from the Secretary of 
State, notified my office that Ambassador Fletcher had been desig- 
nated by the Secretary to represent his department and to consult 
with, and be in continuous touch with your subcommittee and its 
chairman. I at once telephoned to Ambassador Fletcher, asking 
him to come to my office in the Senate Office Building immediately, 
which he did. Upon his arrival there, I handed him for his consider- 
ation draft of two proposed concurrent resolutions to be offered by 
myself and, after consultation, we agreed upon the resolution to be 
so offered, which is in words and J&gures as follows : 

Resolved by the Senate {the House of Representatives concurring). That 
tlie action taken by the Department of State in reference to the pending con- 
troversy between tliis Government and the Government of Mexico should be 
approved ; and, further, that the President of the United States be, and he is 
hereby, I'equested to withdraw from Venustiano Carranza the recognition 
heretofore accorded liim by tlie United States as President of tlie Republic 
of Mexico and to sever all diplomatic relations now existing between this 
Government and the pretended Government of Carranza. 

In company with Ambassador Fletcher I proceeded immediately 
to the Senate Chamber, while the ambassador proceeded to the 
Diplomatic Gallery thereof. I offered the resolution, and the same 
was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. 

The committee being called together for the consideration of the 
]-esolution. Ambassador Fletcher apjjeared before it and announced 
that, at the request of the Secretary of State, he desired to say that 
the latter would prefer that the resolution be separated and the 
first portion, endorsing his action in the pending controversy, be 
adopted immediately, and that action upon the remaining portion 
be deferred. 

The Secretary of State himself came before the Committee on 
Foreign Relations after the recess and repeated this request and 
made a somewhat extended statement, during which it developed 
that the President of the United States had not been informed 
by the Secretary, directly, at least, concerning Mexican affairs since 
the return of the President to Washington from his western tour 
and since his illness. 

Thereupon the Committee on Foreign Relations, upon motion, 
named Senators Hitchcock and Fall to wait upon the President 
concerning the proposed resolution, and to inform him of the reasons 
actuating mj'^self in offering the resolution for action by the 
Congress. 

An appointment was made for the following day, when Senators 
Hitchcock and Fall ' waited upon the President, and the latter 
Senator made a verbal statement, referring to various documents 
and other evidence, and touching upon various phases of Mexican 



INVESTIGATION OF MEXICAN AFFAIKS. \) 

interested in obtaining authentic copies of other correspondence of V. Carranza, 
other than that heretofore referred to, and among other things, of a letter, a 
photostatic copy of the original in Spanish being obtainable here at any moment, 
of which the following is a translation : 

" [Private correspondence of the President of the United Mexican States.] 

" Mexico, D. F., June 29, 1919. 
" Miss Hekmila Galindo, 

" Ignacio Ramirez St., No. 6, City. 

" Esteemed Young Lady : It is necessary that your book, ' The Carranza 
Doctrine,' be finished in a short time, since I desire that you immediately 
proceed to write a second part of it, for which purpose I shall shortly send 
you a ' Bluebook,' which we are about to publish and which will serve 
to justify the attitude of my government in its systematic hostility toward 
foreign speculators, especially Americans and English. 

" Do not forget my injunction to describe in lively colors the tortuosity of 
the American policy with relation to our country, causing the figure of Wilson 
to stand well out as the director of that policy. I also enjoin you to be very 
careful about the corrections which I have made in the original (manuscript) 
which you brought me. 

" I salute you affectionately, 

" V. Caeranza." 

The committee calls attention to the fact that the Bluebook, which can be 
produced, and which has been heretofore referred to, is mentioned in this 
letter to Miss Galindo; and also to the statement concerning the attitude 
of the Government of Mexico, or as Mr. Carranza accurately phrases it, 
" My government," in its systematic hostility toward foreign speculators, 
especially Americans and English. 

Also the committee calls attention to the direction to Miss Galindo that 
she describe " in lively colors " the " tortuosity " of the American policy with 
relation to Mexico, and the direction to cause " the figure of Wilson to stand 
well out as the director of that policy." It will also be seen that Mr. Car- 
ranza is correcting proof as well as directing what shall be said in the book 
just written and the one to be written by Miss Galindo. 

The committee calls attention to the expression with reference to the Wilson 
policy in Mexico, used by Mr. Carranza, as in direct line with the purposes 
and statements in the propaganda pamphlet of Arthur Thomson being circu- 
lated in this country by Mexico, and to similar statements made in the Car- 
ranza Bluebook referred to, and emphasized in Miss Galindo's book, " The 
Carranza Doctrine," the latter two of which are, as heretofore said, in 
Spanish, and as declared, for the purposes of impressing upon Latin America 
the Carranza doctrines and "the tortuosity" of the American policy with 
relation to Carranza as directed by President Wilson. 

The committee has in its possession, and in its files and records, evidences 
of outrages perpetrated upon Americans for the last few years in Mexico, 
of the destruction of American property, and of attacks on American life, 
property, and property rights, convincing it of the determined policy of Mr. 
Carranza to drive all foreigners, and particularly to drive British and 
Americans from the Republic of Mexico ; in fact, it can be asserted that among 
many high officials of the Carranza government it is positively stated that 
the entire policy of the present administration of Mexico is to exclude Ameri- 
cans (although admitting that American investments have built up and civil- 
ized the country, and have elevated the Mexican workingman, aiding his 
condition through the raising of wages and mode of living), for the avowed 
purposes of retaining for themselves, the governing officials and military 
clique, at the expense of the working classes, the exploitation and enjoyment 
of Mexico's resources without reference to the rights of the laboring classes 
of Mexico. 

It is not the purpose of the committee at the present time to attempt further 
than to report the matters as herein set forth, that same may be considered in 
connection with the Jenkins case and the other pending serious controversies 
with Mexico, which Mr. Carranza has declared would mean war if the United 
States enforced its protest; that the committee may be justified in the eyes 
of the Senate in recommending, as it has recommended, the breaking off of 
the relations with Mexico, and the withdrawal of recognition from Carranza. 



10 , INVESTIGATION OF MEXICAN AFFAIRS. 

While it is generally understood that de jure as well as de facto recogni- 
tion has been given Carranza by this Government, an examination of the 
documents communicated to Carranza immediately prior to his supposed de 
jure recognition will disclose that such recognition was made with the 
statement that Carranza was expected to do certain things, or to cause certain 
things to be done, which he neither did, nor caused to be done, and which 
he yet refuses to do, or to cause to be done. 

As to a precedent for the withdrawal of recognition of Carranza, it haay 
be said that the United States has been making precedents with relation to 
Costa Rica, Mexico, Nicaragua, and other Latin-American countries, particu- 
larly within the last seven years, and attention may be called to the with- 
drawal of recognition by President Taft of the Nicaraguan Government a few 
years since. 

The attention of the President was also called specifically to cer- 
tain acts of the Mexican Government of very recent date in connec- 
tion with the stoppage of operations by American oil companies in 
Mexico upon their own lands, and that such action by the Mexican 
Government was in direct contravention of the distinct warnings of 
this Government repeatedly that such action should not be taken by 
Mexico. 

It may be well to add to the foregoing the further statement, viz : 
The committee has identified at least two of the men mentioned in 
the Carranza letters of June 14, and of August 19. 

The committee has also identified one of the agents who was to 
come from New York to Laredo to support revolutionary doctrine, 
etc. This particular man is in the secret service of Mexico under 
Aguirre Berlanga. 

The committee also has the evidence as to what took place at 
Bisbee, Ariz., when the Mexican I. W. W., cooperating with other 
radical I. W. W., threatened the peace of that town and were de- 
ported. It was stated in the hearing before W. B. Wilson, and the 
President's other mediators, that these Mexicans were largely Villa 
followers, and had arms in the Ajo Mountains which they proposed 
to use in the revolution at Bisbee. The committee has information 
leading it to believe that at least one of the men deported was in 
Mexico City on October 15, and at the secret meeting of Lodge 23 
of that date. 

The committee knows who Lino Caballo and Juan M. Garcia are, 
and are fairly familiar with their activities. We desire to say most 
emphatically that we are not attempting to give publicity to any 
portion of a great mass of evidence of outrages upon Americans, 
destruction of American property, incompetence and inability of the 
so-called Mexican Government, nor touching upon any matters of 
this character in this merely preliminary report and statement call- 
ing attention to matters of particular interest and moment at this 
immediate time. 

The President, having declared his conception of his duty and 
having stated that he would further familiarize himself with the 
facts, the responsibility, of course, now rests upon him. Meantime 
the committee will continue its very interesting, and we hope, profit- 
able investigations. 

Respectfully submitted, 

Albert B. Fall, 
Chairman Suh committee. 

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